Friday, August 14, 2009

success!

Evan's surgeon just came and gave us the final word - everything went great! The nurse didn't have a complete story...

His mitral valve had a large amount of tissue above, to the degree they couldn't even see the valve (abnormal even from what his surgeon is used to seeing). He even said they had to blindly cut a little to figure it out - but was able to safely cut it all out, leaving the valve intact. He then dilated the valve some (now at a 17 instead of a 14 prior to surgery). This should make a huge difference to his heart function and flow ability.

He did go into the aorta, and scrape the small amount of tissue away from below the aortic valve - this was a quick, easy fix.

Evan handled everything well - his blood pressures are great, and came up on no meds other than the pain med. He's having a junctional heart rhythm - normal for after a surgery like this. He handles it just fine though, and should be back in steady sinus heart rhythm within the next numbers of hours.

The next 12 hours will be the most difficult on Evan's heart - he'll have meds to help get him through. They'll continue to watch for bleeding and rhythm as he proceeds. Prayers (and some amazingly talented surgeons!) have carried him through, and we appreciate as you continue to pray with us.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7